Chapter 6 - The Mask Slips
Janet recovered faster than most people would have, her survival instincts kicking in with practiced desperation.
She took a half-step back, her eyes darting between Luke and Mason, before her expression twisted from shock into righteous indignation.
“Were you going through your father’s private office, Mason?” Janet snapped, pointing an accusing finger at the boy. “Luke, look at him! He’s been snooping through your personal documents again! This is beyond disrespectful; it’s sociopathic behavior! I told you weeks ago that boy needs therapy—he’s obsessed with invading our privacy!”
Luke slowly lowered his phone. He didn't yell. He didn't throw anything. He just looked at Janet with a gaze so utterly devoid of warmth that it made her visibly flinch.
“He didn't invade my privacy, Janet,” Luke said, his voice terrifyingly calm. “He exposed yours.”
Janet’s jaw worked silently for a second before she forced a brittle, nervous laugh. “My… my privacy? What on earth are you talking about, Luke? You’re jet-lagged. You’re not thinking straight.”
Luke stepped forward, holding the phone out so the screen was inches from her face. The image of her sticky note and the mortgage refinancing application was crystal clear under the kitchen lights.
“Explain this,” Luke demanded.
Janet stared at the screen. The game was up, and she knew it. The performance of the sweet, misunderstood stepmother dissolved in a fraction of a second, replaced by a cold, hardened hardness that matched her true character.
“Oh, so what if I looked into refinancing?” Janet sneered, dropping the sweet southern charm entirely as her voice rose in sharp defense. “This house is outdated! The kitchen is from the nineties, the tax structure is inefficient, and we are married, Luke! In case you forgot, marriage means sharing assets, not treating me like a guest in your bachelor museum!”
“It’s not a bachelor museum, Janet. It’s my son’s home,” Luke fired back, his voice finally breaking into a roar that shook the kitchen rafters. “A home I bought five years before I even met you! A home I explicitly protected under a prenuptial agreement that you tried to bypass behind my back!”
From the living room, Kyle popped his head around the corner, looking alarmed. “Mom? What’s going on?”
“Stay out of this, Kyle!” Janet hissed at her son before turning back to Luke, her eyes blazing with fury. “You trap me in this boring suburb, you let your kid bang away on drums like a savage all afternoon, and you expect me to sit here and pretend I’m happy with nothing? I have a son to look out for! Kyle deserves stability, not to be treated like a second-class citizen under your roof!”
“Nobody invited you to feel like a second-class citizen,” Luke said, his chest heaving with controlled rage. “You invited yourself in by pretending to love me while plotting how to steal my estate from my son.”
Janet’s face contorted with pure venom. She realized she had lost. There was no spinning this, no emotional manipulation that could bridge this chasm.
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“You’ll regret this, Luke,” Janet spat, her voice shaking with malice as she grabbed her designer handbag off the counter. “You and your precious son can rot in this house together. Come on, Kyle. We’re leaving.”
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